Veteran drama star Li Xuejian once said the familiar advertising slogan "Without sound, no matter how good the show is, nothing can happen."

In fact, even if there is sound, it only achieves the effect of "making a sound and listening to it". In audio and video entertainment, it will be greatly eclipsed by its hip-stretching sound effect, thus affecting the overall experience.

As an old brand that focuses on the audio field, CREATIVE can be said to have accompanied the author throughout his gaming career.

Its "Sound Blaster Card" is an obvious product and a flagship product.

Recently, Innovation has once again upgraded its external sound card Sound Blaster

The main base color is a calm and simple design. Through the box painting, you can know that its appearance is roughly the same as that of the X3. It can be regarded as a continuation of this series of classic designs.

The gold sticker in the lower right corner caught my attention.

The innovative Sound Blaster series has been popular in Japan for 22 consecutive years and has won numerous awards.

In fact, in China, many innovative products will also trigger a wave of memories, especially the large wave of classic models launched in the MP3 era.

The back is densely printed with a bunch of tadpole essays in various languages, which may cause a panic attack for patients with cryptophobia.

In fact, changing it to scene display and functional details introduction will help you understand its characteristics more clearly, which is typical science and engineering thinking.

After unpacking, the box lid is lined with ring-shaped sponge, which just snaps onto the knob on the X4 body and is very secure.

In terms of accessories, it’s just a bunch of pieces of paper that can be “ignored”.

The factory comes with a USB A TO USB C cable and an optical fiber cable that is about one meter long by visual inspection (Innovation X4 supports optical fiber line input/output).

Compared with traditional built-in sound cards, the greatest convenience of external sound cards is that they are easy to install and have strong applicability.

The X4 has inherited the technical strength and patent results of more than 30 years of innovation, with numerous functions and rich gameplay.

And added support for Super X-Fi.

Although the price is almost double that of the X3 released earlier, its performance and detailed functions have been further optimized and upgraded.

Make the experience perfect every day.

The length and width of the X4 are equal, both 130mm, and its body thickness is 40mm. It does not take up much space when placed on the desktop. The chassis is thick and the workmanship is solid.

The control panel is located on the top and is very convenient to operate.

The rubber feet around the back edge of the fuselage can stabilize it on a smooth desktop.

The interfaces of the previous X3 were already very rich, and this is still the case in the X4.

There are four 3.5mm jacks lined up on the "butt": FRONT, SIDE, REAR, C/SUB (front, rear, center, bass) to connect speakers (can form a 2.0, 5.1, 7.1 channel speaker system

), LINE/OPT IN linear/optical input, optical output and Type-C port to connect mobile phones/tablets, players, power amplifiers, PS4/5, NS game consoles and PCs.

The two 3.5mm ports on the front of the fuselage are the microphone input (mono) and the headphone/headset jack.

The layout of the three buttons at the bottom of the panel is the same as that of the X3 (the three buttons have corresponding indicators on the top of the head). From left to right, they are Audio Bal (microphone control, mute with one button), Direct Mode (mode switching), and Line Out.

/HP (line out/switch).

It is worth mentioning that the third button is printed with the eye-catching SXFI logo, which means that in addition to line switching, SXFI can also be turned on/off.

Innovation X4 has three built-in EQ modes for music, movies, and footsteps enhancement, which correspond to different lighting values ??of white, purple, and blue respectively, which is very intuitive.

Long press to enter direct mode (orange).

In addition, the EQ can be switched freely when SXFI is not turned on, but not when it is turned on.

Let’s take a look at some more detailed pictures: Just looking at the appearance and ID design, X4 and X3 are very similar, and they can be said to be of the same origin.

However, the details and texture have been improved. Whether it is the shining "SXFI" laser mark in the upper left corner or the silver-gray frosted aluminum alloy panel, it is undoubtedly more classy and refined.

Of course, the square body and large protruding volume knob of the previous generation are also inherited.

By the way, let’s list the parameters: Innovation X4 has 24-bit/192 kHz decoding (in line with Hi-Res certification), its signal-to-noise ratio is 114dB, supports virtual 7.1-channel surround sound and Dolby Digital Live, and can drive up to 600Ω

earphone.

In addition to the expansion of PC driver functions, you can also download the corresponding mobile terminal for remote settings.

Of course, the biggest highlight of this upgrade is its support for the holographic technology of its own Super